Profile of C.L. Moore on Famous Like Me

Catherine Lucile Moore (January 24, 1911 – April 4, 1987) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. She was one of the first women to write in the genre, and paved the way for many other female writers in speculative fiction.

She was born on January 24, 1911 in Indianapolis, Indiana. She was chronically ill as a child and spent much of her time reading literature of the fantastic. She left college during The Great Depression to work as a secretary at the Fletcher Trust Company in Indianapolis. Her first stories appeared in pulp magazines in the 1930s, including two significant series in Weird Tales. One series concerns the rogue and adventurer, Northwest Smith, and his wanderings through the Solar System; the other is a short fantasy series about Jirel of Joiry (one of the first female protagonists in sword-and-sorcery fiction). The most famous of the Northwest Smith stories is Shambleau, which marked Moore’s first professional sale. It appeared in the magazine in November, 1933, and the sale netted her a hundred dollars. The first and most famous of the Jirel of Joiry stories is Black God’s Kiss, which received the cover illustration (painted by Margaret Brundage) in the October 1934 Weird Tales. Her early stories were notable for their emphasis on the senses and emotions, which was highly unusual at the time.

Moore met Henry Kuttner, also a science fiction writer, in 1936 when he wrote her a fan letter (mistakeningly thinking that ‘C. L. Moore‘ was a man), and they married in 1940. Afterwards, almost all of their stories were written in collaboration under various pseudonyms, most commonly “Lewis Padgett.” In this very prolific partnership they managed to combine Moore's style with Kuttner's more cerebral storytelling. Their stories include the now-classic "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" and "Vintage Season." They also collaborated on a story that combined Moore’s signature characters, Northwest Smith and Jirel of Joiry: Quest of the Starstone (1937). After Kuttner's death in 1958, Moore wrote almost no fiction. She did write for a few television shows under her married name, but upon remarrying in 1963, she ceased writing entirely.

C. L. Moore died on April 4, 1987 at her home in Hollywood, California after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease.

More detailed biographical information can be found here.

Partial bibliography

• Earth's Last Citadel (1943)
• The Mask of Circe (1948)
• Beyond Earth's Gates (1949)
• Judgment Night (1952)
• Doomsday Morning (1957)
• Jirel of Joiry (1969)

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